American Wedding is No Bridesmaid; Nemo Keeps Swimming Along

By Bill Desowitz | Monday, August 4, 2003 at 12:00am

In Films, Films | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe

Universal's AMERICAN WEDDING (with VFX by Soho VFX) powered the weekend box office ending Aug. 3, 2003, grabbing a huge $33.3M slice of cake. SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER fell to second place, dropping 41% while collecting $19.5M for a total of $68.5M in its second weekend. Hybride Technologies and The Orphanage shared VFX duties for the Dimension Films release. Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL came in third with $18.8M. To date, the swashbuckling blockbuster has nabbed a bounty in excess of $209M, with VFX by Industrial Light & Magic, Boy Wonder, CIS, Digiscope, Gray Matter FX, Method and Pacific Title. Universal's SEABISCUIT moved up a notch to fourth place with $17.6M and $49.2M in its second weekend. The Cinderella racehorse saga featured VFX by Pixel Playground Inc., Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Orphanage. Sony's BAD BOYS II scored $12.7M for a cume of $111.3M, good enough for the fifth slot, with VFX by Sony Pictures Imageworks and K.N.B. EFX Group Inc.

LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE, with VFX by Cinesite (Europe) Ltd., Double Negative and the Moving Picture Co., managed $11.3M for a sixth place finish. Over two weekends the Paramount sequel has brought in only $42.5M. On the other hand, Disney/Pixar's FINDING NEMO actually moved up a slot to seventh place on its way to gathering another $3.8M. The all-time animation leader now has $320M and is climbing. Debuting at number eight was Sony Revolution's notoriously disappointing GIGLI, the Ben Affleck/Jennifer Lopez starrer, which earned a paltry $3.7M with VFX by Rhythm & Hues. THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN slipped to ninth place with $3.2M and a cume of $58.9M despite a legion of VFX services by Industrial Light & Magic, Steve Johnson's Edge FX Inc., Double Negative, Cinesite (Europe), New Deal Studios Inc., Tippett Studio, Computercafe Inc., Pixel Magic, VCE.Com/Peter Kuran, R!OT, Giant Killer Robots, Engine Room, Big Red Pixel, Mar Vista Ventures and Millennium FX Ltd. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES fell to 10th place, collecting only $2.9M for a total of $142.8M. The Warner Bros. actioner was bolstered by the combined VFX of Industrial Light & Magic, Anatomorphex, Pacific Data Images, Pacific Titles & Optical and Stan Winston Studio. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.